Into the wee hours, Expo workers drank, ate and danced in an atmosphere devoid of queues – aside from the swift moving line for giveaway beer in Germany’s pavilion.

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Officially, the biggest-ever World’s Fair ended the way many official events do in China, with “pride, joy and a little sadness,” as the Shanghai Daily put it.

The premier, Wen Jiabao, was on hand to celebrate the conclusion of the event by watching dance troupes, a neon light show and a rendition of a theme song called Ode to Expo. A “Shanghai Declaration” was published, saying that heretofore Oct. 31 shall be “nominated as World Better Cities Day, so the ideas and practices of the Shanghai Expo will be recalled, renewed and advanced.”

Later, over at the pin cushion-shaped U.K. pavilion, where one could now view its shimmering simplicity without having to wrestle with camera-toting crowds, outgoing consul general Carma Elliot was trying to sustain the ceremonial closing atmosphere.

In brief comments, Elliot praised the staff for “flying the flag of Britain in China.” A sniffling U.K. staffer added that working at the pavilion was the best job she ever had and ever will have.

Also on hand was Elliot’s successor, Brian Davidson, who was taking a break from consulate work in Guangzhou, where China’s upcoming next big event, the Asian Games, is being marked by the kind of pre-event security crackdown that defined the Shanghai Expo and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

James T. Areddy/The Wall Street Journal

Revelers attacked a table covered with Australian white wine and Spanish sparkling wine at the British Pavilion.

But sentimentality was suddenly blasted away into the crisp night air when the DJ cranked up “Everybody Dance Now” and attention turned to a table of wine bottles that extended nearly the length of the pavilion itself. Soon, an over-enthusiastic reveler was being carted away on a beach chair to sleep off his fun, while two others were wrestling on the gray Astroturf to Cyndi Lauper tunes.

Over at the Italian pavilion, with the clock striking midnight, a dance party was underway next to a giant Ferragamo pump and a Ferrari. Asti Spumante was the drink of choice and the dining hall upstairs featured dregs of a bacchanalian feast.

Under Germany’s big top, meanwhile, it was quite literally the final hours of a Shanghai Octoberfest. Free tap beer was flowing faster than the beat of the music as dozens crowded onto a big stage that days earlier had been the staid setting for an orchestra.

A French official rushed past saying that after hosting 11 million visitors at his pavilion, he needed a drink. An American pavilion worker wore his hard hat and colleagues were wrapped in red, white and blue. In the fast moving crowd, no one paid much attention to a mini-shoving match or the heavily accented cursing that followed it.

James T. Areddy/The Wall Street Journal

The German Pavilion celebrates the end of the Expo with (what else?) free beer.

Apparently, the cast party is an Expo tradition.

A senior official from the Bureau International des Expositions, the intergovernmental organization in charge of overseeing the World Expo, declined to talk for the record, citing the late hour, not to mention the German beer in her hand. But a public relations adviser to Shanghai’s Expo coordination bureau, Antoine Bourdeix, who runs Publicis Consultants in Shanghai, noted, “It’s part of the bringing together the cultures.”

Many of the pavilion workers had been working over two years on the project and could now look forward to the mini-Expo in the South Korean city Yeosu in 2012, followed by Milan’s in 2015, he said. “It’s a celebration but its also a farewell party,” said Bourdeix.

Yet, there were practical considerations to spur the drinking. Foreign governments were permitted “temporary imports” of alcohol, food and other goods to China that would be heavily taxed if it were sold in the country outside of the Expo and costly to re-export. The result was a fire sale. Moldovan wine, for instance, was recently selling for 20 yuan per bottle.

As Sunday turned to Monday, fondue pickles on offer at the Swiss pavilion carried the scent of back of the refrigerator fare. The snacking was going on underneath a concrete tower that hours earlier featured teams of Expo-goers waiting to take Switzerland’s popular chairlift ride. Now it was a dance floor decorated with paper skeletons and bats for Halloween and pounding with house music.

When, at around 2 a.m., people began swimming in the pool surrounding The Little Mermaid statue at the Danish Pavilion, it seemed apt time to call it a wrap at the Shanghai Expo.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post misidentified Antoine Bourdeix as a public relations adviser to the Bureau International des Expositions. In fact, Bourdeix is public relations adviser to the Shanghai Expo’s coordination bureau.

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